The Mixed-Up Files of SEMI Collective (Part 4)

I’ve been going through my “drafts” folder this year trying to finish partially-written blog posts and get more organized. This is another series of unfinished posts.

From October 2016, I have a post about the SEMI group concept. I also had four other incomplete drafts. I have cursorily looked over these drafts along with the actual post. The content is different.

I resurrected Part 3 here. In the longshot case that someone out there could possibly benefit from any of this, here is what I believe to be Part 4.

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In a sense, I want to outlaw from this group what Planet Fitness outlaws from their facilities. Like Planet Fitness allows no “Gymtimidation,” I want no “Fin[ance]timidation.” Like Planet Fitness has a lunk alarm, will we have an alarm for excessive egos. If you believe strongly about something and have verifiable data to support it, then perhaps we can work together to evaluate the results and the conclusions. If you bring only baseless claims (including undocumented personal trading performance), then I don’t really want to hear about it.

I want this group to be different.

I want to gradually move discussion toward the topic of trading as a business. This is what I do. I believe trading full-time is certainly possible with a different mentality/outlook than that commonly discussed. I hope every session includes actionable information that brings us closer to our trading goals. I also aim to discuss and develop the skills required to manage our own money. I don’t rely on outside “financial professionals” to manage my money and I strongly believe you shouldn’t either.*

I want this group to be different.

We will talk a lot about marketing, advertising, and fraud. I believe the experience of being conned offers a solid head start to failure in the financial space. I have communicated with many who have lost money to bad brokers, to investment newsletters, and to expensive trader education companies. We will talk about classic fraud and the role of heuristic thinking in making us believe things are better than they actually are. This increases probability of becoming the next sucker.

I want this group to be different.

Most everything we discuss in this group should relate to financial literacy. I want to help you develop and learn. What you do with that knowledge in your efforts to profit is up to you. I believe you are ultimately the best person to manage your own finances—not a professional adviser, not a canned trading system, and not a newsletter—and our discussion will periodically revisit this point.


* — For the great many, I have since changed my mind on this matter (see paragraphs 3-4).